Strong Families

The Strong Families study is adapting and pilot testing a family skills intervention that is designed to protect and promote adolescent mental health. During the first phase of the study an adaptation team is reviewing materials from the Strengthening Families Program to make sure that the content and delivery-style aligns with the American Samoan context. After the adaptation process is complete, we will pilot test the intervention with 20 families, who will offer their feedback about the intervention. We will measure feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact on adolescent depressive symptoms.

Data from several different studies now shows that many adolescents in American Samoa struggle with their mental health. One in three high school students reports considering suicide at least once in their lifetime. There are solutions to this problem and many local organizations focused on making sure that every adolescent has access to the support they need. Our research is designed to support these efforts.

Working with a number of stakeholders and youth (including our youth advisory board) we developed a framework for parenting that is designed to support youth mental health. Read more about the formative work to develop the framework here.

If you are concerned about your mental health, or the mental health of a loved one, there are a number of resources available.

If you’re struggling it is OK to reach out and share your feelings with someone you trust. You can also:

Call 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (this is available to those in the US and American Samoa).

Call 699-HELP (4357) for the EPIC crisis hotline.

Download a list of additional resources in American Samoa here.